Human relationships get all the hype, but what about the relationship with your business’s web content? If things have felt a little strained, take a hint from Hallmark and show it some love.
While it’s comical to envision a champagne toast with your content management system, that doesn’t mean your affection isn’t needed. Competing priorities regularly steal your attention from creating value-added content. However, reconnecting with your web content may just be the spice your business needs to perform at its best.
1. Be Intentional About What You Say and When
Sticking to a consistent content production calendar can be tough. And if your core business demands your attention elsewhere, there’s a good chance your publication frequency can be lagging.
Don’t skip adding value through content because of a jam-packed schedule. Instead, implement time-saving and strategic methods of managing the mayhem by using a content planning tool. Designed to support even the busiest professionals, these tools help you identify otherwise missed opportunities.
Beyond managing your calendar, this tech addition will expose gaps in your content and even what’s missing online. Learn where you can improve your search ranking, find opportunities for links, and determine which edits can improve existing content. With better insight, you can develop content that your customers can’t find anywhere else.
While you’re checking out tools, consider adding automation to your toolbox. If your analysis exposes peak times for new content in your industry, it may make sense to automate posts. This can be especially helpful in industries where thought leadership and relationships matter most. If you’re trying to establish expertise, build trust, and solidify your brand, when you post can make a big difference.
2. Keep The Customer Journey Top of Mind
Thinking of ideas for new content can exhaust even the most creative person. After a while, it can be tough to feel inspired by topics that you’re so familiar with. Combat content burnout by launching a creative session with your team.
Set a meeting to first review your goals and the customer journeys you’re trying to develop. Then, discuss ways to guide your customers along their path. Create a content map that explores how far you can take them. If your gateway is an email signup for a how-to PDF, then strategize how to keep them engaged after downloading.
Add web analytics tools to review more than just visit statistics. Tools that utilize behavior analytics can show you where your customers are getting stuck and how to improve your site’s readability. By analyzing your user experience, you can ensure that the flow of your content matches its quality.
Review navigation performance, time on page, and how visitors experience your site across devices, browsers, and settings. You may discover that your design is confusing or that you’re missing opportunities for suggested next steps. After you’ve done a deep dive and made initial improvements, add this analysis into your regular metrics review process.
3. Keep Content Fresh and Interesting
Your article on home maintenance tips may still be accurate, but its age may be dragging you down. Older content ranks lower within search and can be seen as less reliable among readers. And even if your content is still packed with value, it can do more damage for your performance.
Conduct a content audit to identify pieces worth refreshing. Beyond a simple re-publish, comb through text to ensure references are still relevant. For example, LED bulbs are now commonplace and affordable, making their suggestion in your article about energy-efficient upgrades logical. Add graphics that reinforce your message, especially if it’s step-by-step instructions, which can improve engagement.
Make key takeaways and images easy to share, offering buttons for social sharing and saving. As a bonus, this step can help improve reach. Make sure that you also fact-check data and figures for accuracy, updating them with the latest reliable information and a link. Review the backlinks you’re currently prioritizing but resist the urge to keyword stuff each article. Keep things natural and helpful while integrating the most important search engine optimization factors.
Review your original and stock imagery to determine if a site-wide refresh is in order. Confirm compliance with brand standards and log those that deviate, confuse, or don’t match. Check your about page and leadership overview to confirm everything is up-to-date. If not, schedule time to get new headshots and featured photos taken. You want your images to match your organization as it is today. As you’re updating, make sure you include visual descriptions and captions on every image, which improves accessibility, search, ranking, and engagement.
Whether you’re blogging for your business or your blog is your brand, focusing on creating content that aligns with your audience is essential. Any blog from home improvement blogs, blogs about sex and relationships, and even tech blogs need to create content for their audience. Ensure your blog stays fresh by discussing topics they’re interested in, topics your competitors are writing about, and even new fresh ideas that haven’t been seen elsewhere.
Content That’s Well-Loved Will Love You Back
Relevant, recent, and well-done content will treat you right, every time. And as customers across industries are going online first for information, it’s an opportunity not to be missed. Adopt these content best practices as a regular part of managing your presence online. Create checklists and procedures to assist the website development of new content to ensure your fresh content is consistent.
Share your content upgrades with your team at large to gain engagement and identify more opportunities. Use both metrics and visuals to convey the importance of content to your organization’s greater goals. With consistency, creativity, and high-quality, customer-centric design, your web content will be a key partner to your business’s success.
